Poker Stars $15 $1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t10/t20 Blinds - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG+1: t1480
UTG+2: t1330
MP1: t1470
MP2: t1760
Hero (CO): t1510
BTN: t1490
SB: t1460
BB: t1500
UTG: t1500

Pre Flop: Hero is CO with 9 9
UTG calls t20, 1 fold, UTG+2 calls t20, 1 fold, MP2 calls t20, Hero calls t20, 2 folds, BB checks

Flop: (t110) 2 4 6 (5 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+2 bets t100, MP2 folds, Hero raises to t300, BB folds, UTG folds, UTG+2 calls t200

Turn: (t710) J (2 players)
UTG+2 checks, Hero checks

River: (t710) J (2 players)
UTG+2 checks, Hero checks

Rodolphe,

First I'd like to say that 2 months ago you'd probably never have asked this question thinking it was just a check back all the way down. i'm glad to see you've come very far in your analysis, even in just posting this hand and asking the question....seriously, most regs at this level don't think about it.

that said, VALUE TOWN BABY! I bet smallish, probably 300.

Wow, thank you very much AMT, I'm really happy to read that (specially from you) :-)
I posted a lot of stupid posts and answers you know. If I've improved a bit, it's nice.

Betting the river looks ok. You lose to TT obviously but can get extract a big from 77, 88, 6x

what about betting the turn?

it seems like were ahead here often..

Betting the turn is bad. Betting the river is a given imho. Half pot sounds good.
Also, I'm not so sure about raising the flop. Vs some villains - sure.

We don't know we're always good on the turn, betting it could be disaster.

Yeah betting the turn to me is out of the question, there is a possibility he might have a set and is slow playing you. Plus that Jack doesn't help the situation either. On the river I would value bet like others said. I like 300 here. You want to throw out something that he will call if he has 33, 55, 77, 88. Only hand I really see us losing to here is 1010 but thats about it.

agreed with everything said above. avoid the turn bet but fire a small one on the river, id say you definately have him here.

I fire 200 on the river here

curious, is the rookie tendency to over or undervalue this holding?

i vbet around 250 on the river here. betting the turn is always bad in this situation, u can be throwing away chips for no reason. vbet is standard imo.

I'm just a newb who is just now starting to pay attention to position and bet sizes and all the inmportant stuff, so this is a serious question

Would a pre flop raise be ok here with this hand and position?

Nah, keep pots small with nines.

I don't know that there is a global rookie tendency, but if I had to guess I'd say that most people take an idea such as limping 99 pf here and extend it to always and only playing it passively post flop without hitting a set. The rookie tendency I'd say is more to not apply strategy concepts post flop for lack of knowledge and application experience, so a lot of preflop ideas are carried over when so many different scenarios are possible post flop that doing so with any hand would be too shortsighted (and likely incorrect) for your game and decisions. Hope that helps, I suck at answering questions like that


Re: betting the turn: you're only going to be able to get one street of value here from most opponents with a weaker hand after the flop. that combined with the fact that we want to advance a street closer to showdown, and the possibility of villain still being strong on the turn, makes 99 an easy turn check. Once the jack pairs and he again checks, we can assume that we are much, much more likely to be ahead and we can put villain on many worse hands that will call a small bet on a seemingly innocuous board.